The latest knowledgeshare live event in dubai provided stimulating and insightful debate on the major issues affecting the beverage industry.

KNOWLEDGEshare Live in Dubai provides insights into beverage industry challenges and opportunities

18/02/2015

KNOWLEDGEshare is a beverage industry forum comprising a
digital community (blog.knowledgeshare.com)
of senior industry players and thought leaders, with the Live
events providing the opportunity to engage in the discussions
face-to-face.

The event - the third in the KNOWLEDGEshare Live series - saw
almost 150 participants from across the beverage supply chain
gather in Dubai on 10-11 February 2015. Each was eager to identify
how the industry can add value at every stage through a
collaborative approach. Against the backdrop of various
global challenges, the focus was on the many demands faced by the
beverage industry and how the supply chain can work much more
effectively by utilising the collective knowledge and experience
that is available through such a forum.

KNOWLEDGEshare Live in Dubai 2015, presented in
association with Sidel, the global provider of PET liquid packaging
solutions, followed successful events staged in Germany and China
in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The KNOWLEDGEshare community
is growing year on year, bringing together decision-makers and
influencers, to provide all those involved in the beverage supply
chain with a forum for debating issues related to critical areas,
from raw materials through to package design, production,
transportation, point-of-sale, the consumer and beyond, including
recyclability and sustainable methods of production.

Sidel President and CEO Mart Tiismann welcomed delegates to the
event and commented - "A clear message raised at all three
KNOWLEDGEshare Live events is the need to take a holistic view to
industry issues and adopt a collective approach to addressing them.
Operating in isolation, without appreciating the challenges that
others within the beverage supply chain are facing, is a rather
restrictive view. Of course, individual businesses must make
their own decisions but there are degrees of similarity and
commonality to many challenges across businesses and across
sectors. There is a demand to discuss these matters in a
forum where we bring together people with common interests.
We have seen this in the increasing level of participation, which
is helping us to gain a much clearer picture of what we face as an
industry and, importantly, how we can work together to ensure a
sustainable future."

Subjects covered during KNOWLEDGEshare Live 2015 in Dubai were
varied to reflect the fact that KNOWLEDGEshare is representative of
the whole beverage industry. The discussion sessions were
structured under three main topic streams: how PET can deliver
value across the entire beverage supply chain; what the industry
needs to do to respond to consumer tastes that are increasingly
exotic and varied, while maintaining beverage safety and brand
differentiation; and what the beverage production line of tomorrow
will look like to meet the changing demands of the future.

During the three sessions, panellists from various sectors
debated these issues, with many discussions arising from questions
posed live by the delegates. This ensured real engagement,
with the content driven directly from the floor, demonstrating the
objective of KNOWLEDGEshare Live to be a neutral event that
generates open-minded discussion around the issues affecting the
beverage industry as a whole.

The discussions were specific to the industry and
also in the context of the wider megatrends that are affecting us
all. This was highlighted by one of the three keynote
speakers, Rob Cameron, Executive Director of SustainAbility, an
international think tank and advisory firm working to drive
business and market transformation in the pursuit of sustainable
development. He spoke of some of the global issues, recognising
that the increasing global population is not really the main
challenge - rather that while there is enough food on the planet to
feed the projected nine billion people by 2050, the issue lies more
in the fact that our resources are not in the right places.

Other topics discussed were wide ranging and varied: from the
upsurge in demand for 'mix your own' drinks as consumers look for
increasing choice, to the use of smart data in improving line
performance and how the industry is addressing the health issues
associated with sugar content in beverages.

The networking opportunities were also significant, with
delegates able to discuss the challenges faced at different points
in the beverage supply chain, bringing their own personal
perspectives into the debate to provide a collective approach to
those challenges. Concluding the opening day was a gala
dinner that provided further opportunities for networking.

Sharing knowledge

KNOWLEDGEshare Live 2015 in Dubai provided a forum for the
beverage industry to come together and for the delegates to benefit
from the collective knowledge of the high-level speakers, industry
experts and fellow invitees. Among the comments from those
who attended were:

"For me KNOWLEDGEshare is about innovations in PET, what can be
done with PET, the bottle and how it's going to be adapted to
future consumer demand. I really enjoyed the panel discussion today
on the supply chain. I am from a supply chain
background. I worked for Coca-Cola for 34 years so I really
enjoyed the back and forth - the interesting differences from a
marketing perspective to a technical perspective."

Charles Mason, FABS, South
Africa

"The Iraq market for PET is growing very fast. It is very
useful to have these networking meetings to share
experiences. Every market is a little bit different but there
are many common points, especially regarding sustainability,
cutting costs and having an optimum supply chain."

"We are looking to share what's on the market, to make it more
profitable for our company. We have seen many interesting things -
how to reduce our raw materials and our costs that can help our
company in the future.

Karez Junaid, UB Group,
Turkey

"I think it's outstanding. I'm really impressed by the
content and the depth of the discussions. I think it's been
fascinating. I've personally learnt quite a lot from just
listening. You've got the whole supply chain here and that
makes such a difference."

Chris Dow, Closed Loop
Recycling, UK

This KNOWLEDGEshare event has been an eye opener for me. I
was really impressed and riveted by some of the talks about the
future of our communities, how we engage with each other, how we do
business together, what we contribute to society now and what we
leave behind for future generations. I will be working on
many of the concepts that I've learnt about today."

Hussain Jamil, Ecopack,
Pakistan

Ongoing discussions

The beverage industry debate now continues online, with many of
the questions raised during KNOWLEDGEshare Live 2015 being answered
through the ongoing discussions at blog.knowledgeshare.com.
Many of the panellists who spoke at the event will continue to
contribute as guest bloggers, ensuring continuity from those at the
heart of the debate.

The next KNOWLEDGEshare Live event takes place later this year
on March 24 and 25 in Chengdu, China. For more information about
KNOWLEDGEshare please visit www.knowledgeshare.com.